The Changed Ones
by Alumina
Summary: Strange things have been happening to elite Trainers of every region. No one can explain what is occurring, and when it seems they're close to the answer, they fall victim to one of the Attacks. Collaboration with Kimiko Heroux. Multi CCs/OCs. I don't own Pokemon. On hiatus for now. First three chapters written mostly by Kimiko Heroux.
1. Prologue

The Changed Ones Prologue

The air split through the propellers of multiple helicopters in flight, each one marked with the insignia of The Quintessence on their sides. One of them had a large, metal cage in the back that had electrical bars. If anything touched them, it would be electrocuted into a deep, unconscious state. The sunlight peeked through a window and glinted on it, making it shine like new, despite its cold-hearted use on previous targets.

One of the Members held a walkie-talkie. His voice was gruff as he spoke, his eyes shaded by the visor of his sunglasses that had technology highly beyond its time. "Are you sure it's here?"

"Of course I'm sure. We detected it by satellite. It has to be in perfect health, or the process might fail." The voice that responded sounded equal in vocal tone, as if he was trying to sound firm despite previous sleepless nights.

"And if it's sick?" His question wasn't of concern, as his words may have seemed, but more in fear for the punishment that may be dealt for such a failure at their current mission. Their leader didn't have the mercy to spare on such lowlifes as he was at this current stage.

"We'll have to force it to heal itself. We have to finish the project. Today. Master Ventus commands it." The voice sounded equally fearful of their higher-up, as he know just what Ventus was capable of and exactly what he wouldn't hesitate doing to someone disobedient. Just weeks before, he had watched firsthand as his former comrade was dealt with in the most uncanny of manners, etching a picture forever in his mind.

Some lights flashed, some in an alarming, bloody red, following with a computerized voice that had the ability to strike anxiety in the newest members, "TARGET NEARBY. PREPARING TO CAPTURE."

"It was detected already?" The man almost dropped his walkie-talkie in his surprise, having the knowledge that such a creature as the one they were searching for was highly sought after and was beyond simple to capture, let alone find.

The person on the other side of the walkie-talkie seemed to regain a confidence, figuring that from this point forward, it wasn't on his shoulders in any way. "It's said to live near here, so of course."

The Member, ignoring the somewhat smug comment just made, put the walkie-talkie away. He fingered the collar of his uniform that went up to his chin, feeling like it was trying purposely to choke him. His once-bright eyes had taken on a dull gray hue, and they had been that way since he had figured out just what was going on with The Quintessence. He didn't know all of the details that went into all of this, as confidentiality was important to their particular leader, but it was certain he was in farther than he first anticipated.

A Suicune was standing next to a pond, looking at the sunset's reflection, enjoying it. Its cerulean blue fur glistened in the warm rays, its red eyes watching its white, ribbon-like tails blow in the breeze like blades of grass. Serenity emitted off of its being, showing an undisturbed, pleasant aura.

One of the helicopters landed nearby, the Members getting off and preparing themselves to execute. The other choppers stayed in flight, eyes inside watching the scene carefully, in case of assistance being needed. Suicune heard their arrival and rose onto slender, strong legs, ready both physically and mentally to fight whatever these humans may deliver.

A Magneton appeared out of the bushes and began to prepare for Zap Cannon. Electricity crackled between its six magnets and it shot an electrical ball at Suicune, who dodged with ease and power in its loins. In turn, the North Wind countered with Blizzard, an intense blast of chilling air filled with sharp pieces of ice. Magneton used Protect by creating a force field with electricity created from its magnets, deflecting the intensity of the oncoming attack. It got focused for a Lock On and once it took aim, it used a large blast of electrical power that would've made any normal target comatose. Suicune protected itself with a green forcefield, and ran forward, hitting Magneton with its thin, serrated tails glowing a silver color, an Iron Tail. Magneton flew back with intensity and crashed into a rock, getting knocked out.

A Gallade attacked, forming a sphere of electricity within its hands and used Shock Wave. Suicune dug into the ground to evade the attack, the electric ball barely missing the tip of its deep purple fur that flowed out from its head and neck.

Gallade relaxed its muscles, concealing its eyes behind its eyelids, and used its natural psychic ability to locate Suicune under the earth, who was about to spring up and strike its enemy. Gallade jumped to the side and counteracted the attempted move with its long blades glowing brilliantly when Suicune leapt out of the ground. It slashed the beast's hind quarters just past its ribcage, the flesh slicing open and drawing crimson.

Suicune cried out fiercely in agony and stumbled into the dirt just short of the shoreline. Lifting its head, it opened its mouth, revealing a set of razor sharp teeth that glinted in the light like the blades of swords, and used a shadowy orb-like attack made of collected darkness.

Gallade fell back from the blow, but merely shook off the damage as if it was nonexistent. Out of the corner of its crimson eyes, it watched as a large group of over ten in number of Pokemon appeared on each of its sides. Their types and varieties were compiled to make a weakness-absent assortment, all trained in merciless manners to keep an enemy at constant bay. They were taught never to seek for a painless victory, to prove just what abilities The Quintessence was capable of possessing.

Suicune prepared itself for what it anticipated was to come, using this moment that was meant for its opponents to build up an intimidation, possibly leading to an overly-exciting chase, it released a power beam, a highly-skilled combination of Hyper Beam, Aurora Beam, and Ice Beam all wrapped up into a golden beam flecks of colors with the entire spectrum, spikes of ice sticking out of it that reflected the sun's rays into blinding thorns. The magnitude of such an unpredictable and highly-implausible force sent all of its enemies reeling back, knocking every one into a deep, injured unconscious almost immediately after contact was made.

The two Members that were hiding nearby hesitated when witnessing such power contained in an injured creature. Was threatening such a beast all for the sake of satisfying one human really worth such pain and risk, especially now knowing the abilities it held within it?

"Maybe we should use tranquilizers?" the dull-eyed Member suggested. He was drawing designs in the dirt with his finger, trying to get his mind off just what may be demanded of him in order to capture the North Wind. But it was all in vain, as once again the next thing to come to his mind was the possibilities of consequences for failed operations.

"That probably wouldn't work… According to Ventus that Suicune is much different from the rest of its species. That's why it's needed for the experiment," his comrade responded with an expressionless face, looking at the Member who was written with complete anxiety. The Member remembered how much his eyes shined when he first joined The Quintessence, but now, he only saw negativity in the orbs of the one few years younger. He had to be only a teenager, not older than seventeen, yet he was here, doing things no one should even think about.

And it was obvious he regretted such a decision, shown by his constant living in fear of failure, and how his dark hair was always so mangled on his forehead, stuck in place by sweat. "Maybe we should get the backup to help." His voice cracked like a plate shattering on the floor into a million shards.

Suicune relaxed and began to leave, pulling itself up onto its feet. One of the helicopters dropped an electrical net down upon it. The attempt to dodge was made, but couldn't move fast enough, due to its leg injury causing a handicapping limp. It didn't struggle, knowing well enough if it did that the electricity would activate and send it into further agony.

"Why is it so calm?" the elder Member wondered aloud, watching in high curiosity of the dog of water's motives and intelligence of human technology that it really shouldn't have been familiar with. "Normally a Pokemon would struggle to get out of a trap."

"Let's just get back to the base," said the younger Member, trying to conceal his panic but failing in the effort. He wanted nothing more than to return to his designated dorm in the base, curl up on his squeaky mattress with his legs pulled up to his chest, and wish for the end to come. It seemed like a better future than the one he had chosen for himself at this point. Freedom from that constant trepidation of justice's hand driving its fingernails into his skull.

He felt a sudden, strange chill pass through him, and he shivered. His fingers went up to his thick uniform and rubbed up and down his arms, the sensation of a cold wind taking over his body. He looked about at the trees above, searching for the wind that wasn't there.

His senior looked more closely at him, wondering what the unexpected reaction was. "It's perfectly warm out here." His eyes went over the dark-haired boy, watching intently for any more strange movements on his part to occur.

"I know that, but if felt like something passed through me," he responded with a baffled shrug, sounding a little shaken, his eyes widened and their color moving around in his irises like active magma in black-and-white. "At least it wasn't a spirit or anything, because wouldn't that mean it tried to possess me or something?"

"Even a spirit that was desperate wouldn't want to possess you." He smiled smugly to try to put a lighter expression on the boy's face, but it didn't go over very well. "You're thinking too much, kiddo—" At this, he gave a taunting jab with his elbow to the kid's side. "—you always seem to do that. If you just let it all the details pass you by, things might just not bother you as much. Try it once, you'll be surprised."

He flinched at the playful blow to the side, and instead of the expression his senior was hoping for, he put on a scowl and let out a "You're not helping," that held a level of flatness that revealed he wasn't amused by the attempt at light-heartedness.

Suicune was moved into the cage from the net with no difficulties on The Quintessence's behalf. It didn't give any fight to make escape, knowing it would be futile because of its sustained injuries and the high voltage that coursed through the metal of its prison.

"It's so intelligent…" remarked the young Member quietly, trying to fill the silence that consumed him from every angle.

"I'm not surprised."

The Member looked around, confused, his head moving every direction. No one was around… so who's voice was that? He thoughtlessly grabbed onto a nearby crowbar, his hands sweating and trembling uncontrollably. "I've got a crowbar… and I'm not afraid to use it!" His tone was nothing but a squeak that came from the bottom of his throat and hardened as it moved upward.

"If you tried using it, you'd only hurt yourself."

"Where are you?" His lip shook, focusing on keeping his cool. His squeaky mattress seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him, like he was mere moments away from losing his recollection of the only escape he could imagine. It was distancing itself from him, trying to drive him into insanity.

"Where do you think?"

He tripped over his words, stuttering with every hint of realization that came into his being. "I-it sounds like you're-you're in my head…."

"Exactly."

"What?" His face rapidly paled as his voice rose still higher in pitch. The crowbar dropped to the ground with a loud, echoing clang that reverberated inside his skull. His head suddenly ached with the reality fully dawning on him and the world began to spin out of orbit. The entire time only one word could escape his lips, repeating over and over, same tone each time it came, like a record stuck playing the same measure, "No, no, no, no…"

No response.

Hours passed. Suicune was healed in preparation for the experiment to take place, held captive in of holding unit made of an alloy unknown to most, looking around with no emotion portrayed. The room was lit brightly, tile flooring reflecting the light of glowing panels on the ceiling, illuminating machines and apparatuses of names not known. Computers and control panels lined the one of the walls, a large screen set up into it, graphs and data streaming on display.

"Yes, it's the one we wanted," Ventus noted. His pale skin and piercing eyes went over the North Wind, his mouth a flat line on his thin face. His slim form stood straight with perfect posture, his snowy-hued hair not a hint out of its place and his silver pendant rested motionlessly on his chest, a dragon wrapped around a dagger. "We have the other 'half', correct?"

His question was directed to a woman with straight, dark brown hair that fell down her back to about her hips. Terra is what she said to be called. She had an hourglass figure that was always covered by a baggy white coat when in her lab; her lime green eyes were covered by thin-framed glasses. "One of the Members carried it in earlier. It was much easier to get it than I thought," she kept her voice steady and carefully chose her words. Ventus could be highly unpredictable; she learned not to question his motives despite that his age couldn't have been more than twenty.

"That's because it was weakened. It needs others when it's weak." His jaw tightened after the words were out into the air, pictures filling his mind that caused his face to contort to an expression that made him look a lot older than he really was.

She placed herself down onto an office chair and crossed her legs, one twisted over another. With her small, delicate fingers, she ran her fingers over the bottom of her skirt that didn't quite go quite to her knees to get the wrinkles out. It was one of her useless habits that she neither just couldn't figure out how to kick, nor how to find the motivation to do so. "Who are we going to test this on?" Her eyes for a split-second flickered onto the captured beast.

"There's a certain Trainer who I'm sure will enjoy this opportunity to gain this ability." His lips suddenly changed to a twisted smirk, a glint sparking in his irises. His fingers on each of his hands folded together between the spaces that separated them and cracked his knuckles. Like Terra, he had his little habits.

She moved the chair around so she could watch the stream of information rushing onto the monitor. "I thought we were—" Terra was abruptly interrupted, but it didn't bother her as much as it used to. She had adjusted to his constant corrections.

Ventus suddenly grabbed the back of the chair and spun it around so she was looking up at his face that had a cocky, toothy grin. His appearance turned back, earlier than his actual age, into a child's. "Not that one; the other one."

Her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh… him."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, there were complications. **

**Note that a part with a certain char was supposed to be added and sadly had to be cut out for now. It will be put in the next chapter. It was too fast-paced at the moment and will be lengthened by then. Which, believe me, will be good.**

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><p>Kimiko Heroux's fingers flew over the keys of her laptop, her golden-colored eyes moving swiftly back and forth across the screen in the motion of a typewriter, going over her work as it appeared before her; she was so far satisfied with it, but her mind still couldn't think of proper synonyms to the words required. Her gaze suddenly flitted upward, just as the blur of a Suicune shot past. Her fingers stopped their current motion, and began to tick down into a fist as she went vocally, "Three…two…one and—" <em>What is with that crazy man?<em>

As the thought struck inside her head, a purple-clad brunette with a fancy cape and a big red bowtie darted past atop an Electrode, screaming at the North Wind for its return. While he shouted at something he clearly couldn't catch, the girl watching with an expressionless face and calling to him, redundancy really not a factor to her, "Give it up already, Eusine! Stalking stops being fun after the one being stalked realizes they're being stalked by a stalker!"

"There was something strange about that one, though," Kris responded, her deep, blue eyes clouded as she watched Suicune and its pursuer disappear as quickly as they had shown up. Her head turning to watch and the wind tousling her long hair were the only movements made from her place next to Kimiko on a felled tree trunk. Despite being the younger one by almost three years, Kris had been the most level-headed out of the two Trainers present, for the most part.

"Tell me 'bout it. I think Eusine's a few tacos short of a fiesta."

The young girl facepalmed at her senior's retort and groaned. "That's not what I meant." She shook her head and tried to veer their discussion back on track. "I mean, there's something weird about that Suicune." She furrowed her brows while her consciousness disappeared into an abyss of thought.

Her senior pursed her lips and her eyes turned back down to the computer screen. A small cuss slipped out of her mouth as the frustration began to build up inside her thin, athletically-toned body. "I can't seem to get into the Quintessence database. I've tried as many password combinations as there are in existence!" She groaned loudly and let herself fall back into the grass behind the tree trunk, holding her laptop up in her hands with a big childish pout on her face. Her index finger of one hand moved the cursor around in a continuous circle as it rotated on the touchpad in a mindless motion.

Kris blinked at her senior in perplexity. "Are you okay?" She received a mere high-keyed whine in response. "Maybe you should contact Sean—" She was careful to pronounce the brunette girl's cousin's names properly, as in like the word 'seen', as the boy was very particular about it. "—and ask him to get into it for you."

The pouty girl hated admitting that she was stumped, but her younger relative was indeed better at hacking than she was. "Fine…" she sighed, clicking a few buttons with a single finger, and frowned when Sean's face appeared on the screen. His light blue hair curled around his round face, bringing out his little kid characteristics, along with that candy bar shoved in his mouth. "Hey, Sean. I gotta favo—Hey, are you cosplaying again?" She noted the wig that was sloppily plopped on the boy's head.

Sean grinned in a toothy way that seemed to run in the Heroux family, showing off the chocolate splattered like paint all over his teeth. "My original plan was Naruto, but I decided on Sasuke. I like Naruto and all, but Sasuke's got Uchiha-power!"

Kimiko chuckled, thinking of the dark-haired character's hair and the shape it seemed to take on. "Hehe, chicken." She took a moment to think about that awesome anime character that had taken a fall into insanity and for the most part just became all around scary before getting back on topic. "Anyway, I was gonna ask you for a favor. I've been trying to get into The Quintessence's database, but I can't seem to figure out their password. They've been quiet for far too long."

"That might be because I blew up their base in Lilycove!" The boy let out a maniacal laugh that scared Kris, who was listening in to their conversation. "Okay, so, lemme see…" He glanced down and dug around in something, of which Kimiko assumed to be a drawer or something by the sounds. He pulled out notebook and opening it up, scanned the pages. "Ah! Found it!" He put the page to the screen, of which was entitled in big scribbled letters, Evil Dudes' Passwords And Stuff, and pointed to a line about halfway down. "That one there is their password. Type it in and press Enter!"

His cousin's jaw dropped in awe at the collection of classified information he had stashed in one little notebook. "Dude, how did you—? When did you—? WHAAAT?" She received a devious little chuckle in response and composed herself. "Okay, thanks, dude. I owe ya one."

"Actually you owe me a lot of ones."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up." And cut the connection. She proceeded to put the password into the blank and pressed Enter. Instantly, a stream of information covered the screen. Her eyes moved at double-pace, looking for answers. "Dude, they're planning a lot of crap…Hey, it says here that Ventus's birthday is coming up; I'd better get him something. His party's on the eleventh! Can we go crash it, Kris? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

The short girl pinched the bridge of her nose at her friend's constant desire to interrupt the natural order of things. "Stay on track, Kim. Better yet, I think you should get out of their database, this doesn't sound like one of your best ideas…"

Kimiko held up her index finger. "Okay, one, ruining a birthday party is part of the track I run on, and two—" She put up another finger. "We need to know what The Quintessence is planning. It'd be beneficial to know their plan before they can follow through with it. We can't be caught off guard…" And then she added in a mumble that Kris didn't catch ear of, "…plus, Ventus totally crashed my birthday party first…"

Her eyes stopped at one point and her face grew completely serious, an unusual occurrence with this particular teenager. She pointed to a part of the screen. "Here. It says here that their next plan is called—wow, they've got some creative names— Super World Domination Scheme 245SW." Her gaze moved off of the screen to the direction where Eusine and the Suicune had gone. "If SW means southwest, then whatever-it-is is that way."

"You don't think Eusine stumbled across it while chasing Suicune, do you?" Kris stared off into the distance, thinking of how many complications that man managed to get himself into for all the time that she knew him. She couldn't even begin to count all of those moments where she heard his voice from a mile away screaming for help. And he said that she had problems…

Her senior pursed her lips, trying to think about the plausibility of what Kris suggested. "Well, with his luck, probably. But let's just hope he didn't and that he got the Suicune irritated enough that it Ice Beamed him again. We'll know if he comes back in an hour or two complaining about frostbite."

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><p>Eusine sat quietly, watching Suicune rest from being pursued for who knows how long. The forest had gotten thick, causing the purple-clad man to have to return his Electrode and chase after the North Wind on foot. All around him, it was eerily quiet; he knew well from the amount he had traveled within this particular woods that it was often bustling with sound, all sorts of Pokemon on the move as they went about their daily lives. A storm was on its way and they were taking shelter, he reasoned, shrugging his shoulders in indifference and dropping the subject.<p>

He pulled out a teal Pokeball styled with webbing design on the top half, a Netball. He jumped up from the bush he was concealing himself from behind and threw it. Much to his confusion, it passed right through the Legendary Dog, and in response to the orb, the Pokemon vanished into thin air. _That couldn't have been any attack… _he deducted, giving the place where the North Wind had once stood a hard expression. _It couldn't have been Mirror Coat. Not Double Team or Substitute, either. So…what just happened?_

From seemingly nowhere, a helicopter appeared overhead and landed in the clearing just before Eusine. The man recognized the albino teenager that got out as Ventus. That woman with the long brown hair and glasses that Eusine couldn't remember the name of followed close behind. Ventus had a smirk on his face, like one a little child would have on if he had just gotten away with tattling on his sibling. "Did you enjoy playing tag with that hologram? Terra is amazing at creating realistic images, isn't she?"

_Oh yeah. Terra was her name…_ Eusine glared at him, more than annoyed at his tactics. With Ventus, everything that seemed like just a meaningless prank such as this one had some deeper, more important role. He began spitting out obscenities, "You—"

"Yes, me," the boy cut in smugly. He placed one hand on his hip and put weight onto one leg, a gesture that seemed like he was about to try and start up some sort of innocent, everyday work-and-the-weather kind of conversation with the brunette. "So, how's your friend doing? The one that took away Gengar." Despite the context, his tone was rather light-hearted as if he was speaking of a little accident that they should've been laughing at reminiscing.

"He's fine." The purple-clad man's tone was hard as his answers came out short and to the point. "Ghost never wanted to be with you anyway." Only a certain few knew of Ventus and his position in The Quintessence, and even fewer of the event that occurred the year before. He had artificially created the pitch black Gengar, whose sole purpose was to control Morty, Ghost-type Gym Leader and also the new Trainer of that particular Pokemon to which they had been referring, and with the abilities of the atypical Ghost-type, it granted him abilities that surpassed the bounds of normality.

A shrug preceded the albino's response. "Oh well. That Pokemon was flawed anyway. I don't have a reason to possess something that has obvious problems in its design." He tossed his bangs from his eyes and Eusine happened to catch sight of little silver studs in each of the teen's ears. _What is with this generation and guys with earrings? _"It's surprisingly difficult to ensure obedience with a creature made from scratch. Such a shame, because who wouldn't wanna serve a sexy man such as myself?" Silence ensued while Eusine just gave a disbelieving expression before he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Anyway, I'm sure you're disappointed about the Suicune. Ventus understands all—" Another stare from the older man. "—but fear not! I know right where a real one is!"

He was so distracted with looking at Ventus and his sudden giddiness that he almost missed the sight of Terra pulling out something from her lab coat pocket that looked a lot like a tranquilizing pistol. He instantly reached for a Pokeball for a getaway. "Alakazam, Teleport!" The center button of the Pokeball flashed but the ball didn't open. Suddenly he remembered one of Ventus's more successful inventions. It was a generator that created some sort of field that rendered Pokeballs useless. Just perfect.

"You can come peacefully like a good little boy or I can have Terra use that pretty little tranquilizer. What will it be?" He watched Eusine impatiently. "Well, time's up. Terra?" He turned to his assistant and saw her futzing with the gun, banging it against a tree to try to get it to cock correctly. "You didn't load it!"

The woman stopped mid-motion and stared at him. _That's why it wouldn't work,_ she realized, _I thought it had jammed again…_ "What? I thought you were supposed to do that!" She began to reach into her pocket for the tranquilizing dart, momentarily tempted to use it on her boss instead of Eusine, and after retrieving it, inserted it into the pistol.

Eusine slowly began to back away, hoping they'd be distracted enough for him to run for it. Slowly…slowly….slo—"Stop!" _Dang._ Ventus threw his finger into the air (his index finger, you bad people) and exclaimed, "FIRE!" only to be disappointed when the dart hit the man and knocked him out cold because the sound of the gun firing wasn't as much more than just a little, whistle-like _pew_! noise. "Well…that was pathetic!" He pouted as his henchmen loaded the unconscious Suicune fanatic into the helicopter.

But then he suddenly smirked. "But still, it is a VIC-TOR-YYY!" And thus proceeded with a little jig and some pelvic thrusts.

* * *

><p>"Ventus, that's not how you're supposed to do it!"<p>

"What? This is how I've always done it!"

"You can't put that there!"

"Don't yell at me, Terra! I know what I'm doing!"

Here they were, at the lab, Eusine trapped in some sort of translucent container of which he was surprised he could even breathe in, and Ventus and Terra arguing about what bloodstream to insert a syringe, despite context. All of The Quintessence's members that were in the base could hear them yelling at each other (some of them wide-eyed, others really not surprised, and then there was that poor gray-eyed member from the Prologue that was already scarred for life), and tried desperately to forget that their hearing was existent.

Ventus was having an overly-fun time squirting the unknown liquid from the syringe and when it splashed to the floor, watching it eat away the tile. As soon as he received scolding as if he were a little child for wasting the highly-potent fluid, he frowned in a properly-fitting little kid way. "Aww, okay…" But then he brightened up again. "But I get to stab him with it, right? Pwease with a little Squirtle on top?"

Terra groaned and crossed her arms around her chest. She didn't stop her eyes from rolling at the teenager. "Ugh, _fine_. Just make sure you don't miss the bloodstream."

He giggled like a little girl in his excitement and he used an invisible door to get into the container that held Eusine captive. "Hey there!" The albino grinned a toothy smile. He came up close to the man, looking up with his eyes shining. Eusine couldn't look him in the face, so he resorted to staring at the pendant around his neck, and Ventus noticed. "Like it? I stole it from Kimiko when I crashed her birthday party last year!" He let out a half-innocent 'hee hee!'. "Oh yeah, and you can have this!"

And stabbed him with the point of the syringe.

* * *

><p><em>That kid either needs medical attention or a nap, and I can't figure out which one…<em> was the first thought that crossed Eusine's mind as soon as he awoke, feeling disoriented and just downright confused. When he opened his blue eyes, he came to realize he was back at that forest where he had been chasing Suicune. _Was it just a dream? If so, then I really should stop eating Torchi—I mean, chicken before bed…_

Trying to put everything together in his head, he made his way back to the Pokemon Center of which he had been rooming. As soon as the doors opened before him, Kris and Kimiko turned at the sound and the oldest girl stated, "See, Kris? I told you'd he'd be back in an hour or two!" She grinned and slapped the purple-clad man on the back. She then patted him on the head as if he was a dog, much to his annoyance and causing him to narrow his eyes at her. "He's just fine, aren'tchya, Eus?"

He just stared at her, unimpressed. Kris thought for sure she heard him let out an irritated growl.

"_Juuust_ fine!" Kimiko smirked in triumph at her junior, pleased that the older man had pretty much fulfilled what she predicted. "I know so because he wouldn't growl at me if he wasn't!" She then skipped away happily, humming as she went while Eusine just stared down sharply where she once placed her feet. From down the hall, her voice yelled, "Just keep glaring at where I stood, Eus, _that'll_ do it!" She laughed as he wondered just how she knew he was doing that.

Kris wasn't convinced of the crazy teen's reasoning, and voiced her concern, "Are you sure you're okay? You were gone awhile." The look on her face and the way her blue eyes stared up at him made her appear to be younger than she _already _appeared. If that was even possible…

It took a moment for him to realize she had actually asked him something, and even longer to process the question. His voice sounded a little detached, the way he was feeling from the rest of the world. "Yeah, I'm fine," he responded. Then he pulled out a small, light blue bell. He held it by its thin string and the girl before him watched it as it swung back and forth hypnotically. "But hold onto this for me just in case. Try to put it on a chain or something. Can you do that for me?"

He placed the bell into her hand and closed her fingers around it with his as she replied, holding perplexity tight in her tone, "Yeah, I can do that, I guess…" She opened up her hand to stare at it. It was so weird to her. She knew exactly what the Clear Bell meant to Eusine. He had never parted with it before, mainly for the reason that a Suicune had given it to him. It was a sign of its trust it had of him, and she knew full well that fact alone was something he treasured. So why was he giving this to _her_?

A dim smile suddenly crossed his lips as he turned away from her. "Well, I'm kinda tired, so I'm gonna go try to get some rest. But if you need anything, don't hesitate letting me know, okay?" She nodded unsurely as he began to walk away.

She stood there, Clear Bell in hand, just watching his back and realizing he getting farther from her, that he was seemingly farther from her mentally than physically. Her mouth was slightly agape, her head turned slightly to one side, revealing all of the uncertainty that she possessed. She had a distinct feeling that something was going to unravel, but she didn't voice it to him. She wasn't sure why, but a small part of her told her not to. All she could do was stand in one place and give him a quiet, shy, "Good night…"

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><p><strong>AN: To make things clear, Ventus is 90% Kimiko's character and 10% mine. Note that The Changed Ones is part of Original Stream and based about five years after the series that's being posted right now.**

**I am still accepting ideas for Original Stream, which also includes The Changed Ones. **


	3. Chapter 2

**Finally, after almost a year, I got around to updating this.**

**Originally this chapter was going to be much, much longer, but it turned out that the original chapter could be broken into about two or three chapters (meaning faster updates) and because Kimiko Heroux is really busy with her goal of completing Wherever You Will Go by the end of summer / before she goes to collage, that was what was best. I'll mostly take it over, as there are certain shorter parts that Kimiko will be able to help with and that she wants to write, like a scene for the next chapter.**

**I'm not sure when this will get updated again, but I'll make sure it isn't nearly a year again.**

Eusine lied awake for what felt like hours, trying to force himself to fall asleep. Ever since he had gotten back he'd been aching all over and had a headache coming on, and the pain he felt hadn't even slightly eased, even though he had taken several different pills for it. He pulled the multiple layers of blankets closer, shaping them around his figure, shivering despite the raging fever plaguing him. He was catching influenza or something, he figured.

He called out hoarsely, his voice splitting even before it left his lips, for whom or what he wasn't quite sure. His concentration had gone to the point where it had taken him a while just to remember to set his Pokeballs on the bedside table, and even that seemed to take a lot of effort. He shivered even more now. Another blanket would help… He sat up slowly and immediately sank back down from the headache causing his lingering disorientation, confusion, and now dizziness to intensify enough that it made him a little sick to the stomach.

The aches instantly spiked to pain as his headache turned into a pounding migraine, the pain coursing in sync with his rapid, in-ear heartbeat. His breathing became difficult, feeling as though his lungs were being constricted and his windpipe inflaming like the hottest coals suddenly coated them. Everything began to blur together as his eyes started to turn from their usual blue to a violet, deepening into a vibrant burgundy, and then to a deep, swirling crimson.  
>*<p>

"… and that's how you successfully burn ramen noodles in boiling water," Kimiko concluded, putting a triumphant expression on her lips as if telling her little story put her up to a slightly higher pedestal than mere moments before, "which is why Ron isn't allowed to cook." And with that said, began to chatter on absentmindedly. "But you should try some of my cooking sometime, Kris. I make a pretty mean curry. You can put that stuff in anything to give it a little pizzazz. Once I sprinkled an itty bitty pinch on a doughnut, and _man_, that was awesome! …Until the aftertaste kicked in."

Kris barely lifted her head in a nod with her eyes narrowed in a combination of both drowsiness and disinterest, not really paying attention to her friend's little rant. Not even an hour ago Eusine had gone to his room and his off-kilter behavior had worried her. She couldn't get the image of his face out of her head, that look he had when handing her the Clear Bell and telling her to hold onto it for him. Her question came out before she even knew she had opened her mouth, "Are you sure he's okay?"

It took a moment for Kimiko to realize exactly what the girl was talking about, and after that was figured out, the answer came quick and without a single hesitation, "Of course he is. The stalked just realized it was being stalked by a stalker, and because of that latest defeat of our favorite little maniac, he went to his room to sulk is all. You gotta admit, he does put on quite the show when he's in a pouty mood with all his dramatics."

Kris shook her head, her bright eyes full of doubt in her senior's words. "I don't think so…" She righted herself in her seat and retained her mouth's troubled shape. "Something just didn't seem right about him. Did you see that look in his eyes? Like his mind was… drifting off or something."

"Maybe he was just tired like he said or getting sick and all that shizz. He's been Ice Beamed so many times, I'd be surprised this is the first time he's caught a cold." Kimiko crossed her arms across her chest with a brief huff and leaned back on the back two legs of her chair, her own legs folded one over the other. Her brown hair flopped over her shoulder sloppily, but her golden-hued eyes were sharp and aware. "You're reading too far into it; I wouldn't worry about it too much, Shorty."

"But…" Kris held up the Clear Bell, for once not focused on the fact she'd just been called one of her pet peeve nicknames that Kimiko was oh-so nice to award her. Her eyes moved with its motion suspended on the chain she had put on it. "He gave me this."

Her senior shrugged indifferently, trying to justify Eusine's motives as simply as she could think of, "He just wants it on a chain so it can be a pendant, so he won't go lose it and splat against a Crystal Barrier again. You know, like—" She was cut off abruptly when Eusine's screaming echoed down the hallway. Her head snapped in the direction of his room; that sound he made split both Trainers' nerves in half, sending them off the edge of naïveté into much more than wariness.

Kris's eyes widened and she ran towards the room, calling her friend's name over the deafening sound of her heartbeat flooding her ears. She rattled the doorknob, finding it locked. Thuds and sounds of various things being broken, torn, and snapped could be heard from inside the room, mixing in a horrid synchrony with Eusine's cries that seemed to be morphing into something animal-like growls. Shattering glass came next, and then an unnerving silence.

"Eusine?" Kris squeaked, getting no response, the possibility her voice wouldn't be heard through the door aside. Her anxiety was gnawing at her and it was all-too evident in her voice, especially as more moments passed. "Eusine?!" She jiggled the knob in her fingers, pushing on the wooden door by sidestepping into it with her shoulder. A polite person would've said she was too small to do much damage, but others would be more upfront and say that she was just plain weak.

"Let me handle that," Kimiko showed off a snaggle-toothed grin, cracking her knuckles like she was about to enter the ring against her mortal enemy and duke it out (of which she really would've enjoyed doing if she was given the chance). "Turn around and close your eyes."

The smaller girl merely looked at her in perplexity, decided it was best not to ask, and then complied. She couldn't really distinguish the interesting sounds she heard until her senior's voice tell her, sounding very cheery, "Okay, you can look now!" Her expression matched her tone, but Kris didn't exactly know why, as it didn't seem like she had done anything to the door. She opened her mouth to question, but Kimiko replied, cutting her off before she could start, "The world must never know how I break into people's houses!"

And at that moment, just as she turned to open the door, it swung open slowly, creaking as it did so. The older girl stared in clear horror, turned back to Kris, then back to the door, and then back to Kris, putting on an obviously fake smile as she said, "Well, that's interesting!"

When they entered, the room was completely and utterly trashed, littered with broken wood, torn cloth, and other objects that couldn't be identified, some of which probably was better off not identified anyway. Kris's face paled like a bed sheet when she peeked out the broken window and noticed a deep crimson marred on the shards of glass on the grass below the place where the man obviously made his exit. She felt her head spinning and bile trying to make its way up her throat. The sight of blood never agreed with her, and laying her eyes on it heeded her with the need to sit down with her head between her knees.

"It isn't that bad," Kimiko said, obviously not bothered by the destroyed room that encased her, "he's just gonna have to pay for the window now. At least when we find him and drag him back here." She turned and noticed her junior looking like she was gonna pass out, moaning like a zombie. "Dude, I swear, if you puke, I am not gonna clean that up."

Kris just peeked up at her and probably would've had narrowed eyes if the world would've stopped spinning long enough for her to do so. Her senior gave her a halfway sympathetic frown before proceeding to continue to investigate the room again with analytic eyes, meanwhile muttering to herself, "Either Eusine has some serious temper issues or something has gone horribly, horribly wrong…" She furrowed her brows, calculating within her head. "Maybe that data I found has something to do with it."

This revelation caused her to perk up. Pulling out her PokeGear, she looked to Kris and said, "I'll be back in a bit, Shorty. I gotta make a phone call."

"Are the results in?" Ventus swirled around in the office chair he'd sank his butt into a while back, bored out of his mind. As the leader of a rising organization full of evil plots and such, _of course_ he had nothing better to do than nag Terra as she attempted to go about her work. And when every time he asked, he received a negative response that only assisted to build up his current attitude. Sticking his pendant between his teeth as he received that same depressing answer he'd gotten the previous gazillion times he'd questioned, he let out that childish whine that he was all-too good at, "Oh, but why not?"

Terra internally groaned, pulling her fingers through her bangs as if it was a secret method of relieving that distinct urge to spork the eyes out of something. A something that happened to be an albino spinning around in an office chair like a maniac. "Because," she began acidly, her lime green eyes narrowed, "It needs to be stable. If it is not stable, it won't work and the Subject may be…" She paused to think of proper wording, and with that pause, came a bit more calmness in her voice. "…wasted. Until it stabilizes, we can't receive any accurate results."

Despite his overall, outwardly immature demeanor, Ventus knew very well what his lead scientist was saying. Under that rather bipolar exterior was an intelligent, level mind (well…maybe level isn't _quite_ the right word) that had created the Quintessence and built it up into what it was. That genius side of him rarely showed, however, aside from those moments that seemed to pass in the very blink of an eye. In those moments, mirroring the likeness of this one, his eyes grew stoic and solid like ice and his face was aligned with perfect composure. "And what of Subject Alpha245?"

The brown-haired woman knew he wasn't going to like the response, but decided to give it anyway, since it really didn't matter how bored he was. They couldn't make their plans go any faster no matter how much he whined. "Pyro assigned himself the task of guarding the sector. He told me he would report back when significant progress has been made." She watched his expression turn to a mixture between a glower and a pout, but before he could begin to throw a tantrum or something because of his sheer impatience, the mood was quickly interrupted by a positive-sounding beeping of one of the many computers. She read the streams of data flowing on the nearest screen, nodded to herself, and pressed a small button.

The button caused a small hatch to open and a narrow vial to elevate upwards from inside it. Inside was a peculiarly-colored liquid, swirling within itself. When Terra took the vial in her hand, she felt it to be horribly cold, but when she handed it to Ventus, he didn't seem bothered by it. Or possibly, he was just too caught up in the excitement that he wouldn't have to be bored anymore. "Be careful with that," she advised sharply just as he began tossing it up into the air and catching it. "And make sure you report when you secure the next Subject."

He caught it from a throw that nearly hit the ceiling (while spinning madly in the office chair) and beamed brightly at her like a little boy on Christmas morning. "Oh, don't be such a worry wart! I'm always careful!" He jumped up from his chair and made his way over to the elevator. He could hear the familiar hum of it coming down (which would always precede the ding! of its arrival—his favorite sound), but when that little ding! sounded and the door slid open, he was all but smiling.

Standing before him—rather, towering _over_ him—was a stoic man that surpassed him in both height and having intimidation effect. The cloak worn by many of the Quintessence members was across his shoulders and the emblem of second-in-command shone on his chest over his heart. The stare Ventus knew ever-so well was aimed down in his direction. An equally-daunting Raichu stood at his side.

At this moment Ventus seemed to have forgotten exactly _why_ he gave him that high position in _his_ team. He was quick to thrust the vial behind his back and throw on a great big—and fake—grin. "Why _hello_, Blaze!" He wasn't certain why his voice rose up so many octaves, but he cleared his throat and forced it to drop back down. "Back early, I see!" It took him this long to realize that there was a younger man standing behind the symbol of intimidation before him. "Aww, did you make a new little friend?"

Blaze only tightened his hard stare from there, his voice crisp with emotion's absence, "This is Steel, our promising recruit from Hoenn." He side-stepped slightly to give Ventus a full view of the member, so he was able to see the tall, slender yet muscular form, the pale blue eyes hard-set within a narrow face, and bluish-silver hair gelled in a semi-organized, semi-spiked manner of that man that couldn't have been in more than his mid-twenties. "I have put him in charge of Division Five."

Ventus didn't argue with the decision. Rather, he was highly distracted with the man codenamed Steel, as recognition hit him. He scanned the man up and down, trying to place where he had seen that familiar face. Nothing coming to him, he just grinned. "We've hit a shortage of Steel Trainers, so it's good to have you aboard! Just remember I'm the captain of this ship! And now this captain really must be going. Tootles, Steely!" He sauntered on past them and into the elevator. As he clicked the Up button and the door began to slide shut, Blaze's eyes remained vigilantly trained to him.

An Espeon gracefully back-flipped high into the air, evading a Shadow Ball with its agility and small form. The small, golden stars from a Swift floated about it, each creating a sort of psychic field. It was effective in both protecting against attacks and helping Espeon get more height in its jumps from the concocted "anti-gravity" effect. The Pokemon landed nimbly on its feet, darting towards the Exeggutor with its tail set aglow, an Iron Tail attack. Unfortunately, its speed wasn't as great as it was without the psychic field. It slowed to a halt at the telepathic command of its Trainer.

Its Trainer, in turn, walked up to the small, fennec-fox-like Psychic-type. He scratched it behind its long ears, much to its enjoyment of which it openly exhibited on its countenance. A small smile appeared on the Trainer's face at this as he looked down at his Eevee evolution. Behind the mask he wore, his violet-hued eyes that matched his neatly-arranged hair were shining, pleased with the rate that his Pokemon was learning new techniques.

"You're developing well, but a faster opponent would have attacked by then. I can't let that happen to you." He recalled the Exeggutor that had been battling, sending a Kadabra out for its turn. Espeon rubbed its head against his leg lovingly and walked a distance away into its place, waiting for the opponent's attack. The training session was a repeat of the last, but this time Espeon was putting it all on the line, its Psybeam being released with full force and ripping up the battlefield. The last time it did this... The Trainer relaxed when it succeeded in landing a perfect hit, unlike the last time when he nearly lost against Kimiko.

His thoughts flashed back to that battle. Just the mere images that returned to his mind's eye sent back all of those conflicting emotions that had entangled themselves around him during that battle, those feelings that threatened to choke and suffocate him with every moment that passed during the seemingly endless struggle between his Espeon and Kimiko's Glaceon. Those heart-stopping seconds when it appeared one Eevee evolution was going to fall, but brought itself back up to land yet another blow on its opponent.

Both Pokemon immediately halted, looking in different directions. Espeon's ears twitched and it got into a fighting stance, calling out to Kadabra. Karabra backed away, recalling itself back to the safety of its Pokeball. A soft rainbow beam flew towards Espeon, the Pokemon jumping out of the way and using Swift. A sound that crossed between a growl and a howl rang out and a large Pokemon leaped into the clearing; it having the appearance of a Suicune only much more muscular and feral. The first thing Will really noted about it (like with all dogs he feared) were its sharp claws, especially, its fangs.

It wanted to eat him, he was sure of it. Espeon used Psybeam, though the attack was slower than the Suicune running forward and ramming into it, lashing its tails to throw it. It used Bubble Beam, knocking the injured Espeon back as the purple Pokemon Pokemon launched another Psybeam. Will caught his Pokemon, holding it tightly. Having it use Morning Sun would take some time, more than enough for the mutant to kill it and him. That left only one choice while it was confused: Run.

**Blaze in an OC that belongs to BlazeTheMovieFan from YouTube.**


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